Hi there,
 
First time poster, but did alot of research and comparisons here as well as listened to many users reviews on headphones before deciding which pair to go for.
 
Decided on the Audio Technica M50s, as you can see from the title, due to all the great reviews and feedback.
 
First, some thoughts. When people talk about burning in these headphones, that is a very real thing. With previous ones I've had I did it anyway but it never made too much of a difference... But on these it's like night and day! They were almost like walkie talkies when I got them, and now they just sound so superb.
 
I love the sound 'signature' and just the way they feel and everything.
 
However, one thing I've noticed is that the right driver has more of an 'oomph' or 'punch' or whatever you would wanna call it compared to the left. I've tried it on multiple sources (portable mp3 player, laptop, onkyo 608 receiver, iphone) and it's definitely not a psychological thing or my ears being off. I reversed them to achieve the same effect the other way around.
 
However, I should point out it's not a *huge* difference, in fact it's not a deal breaker even, but it is there. If I put my hands up against the respective side of the headphone, I can even feel the right side 'rumble/vibrate' more than the left. As per some other threads I searched up here, I tried white/pink noise and audio sweeps as well as mono recordings. I can't discern anything from the white/pink noises, but in the audio sweep at the low end it is noticeable. As the sweep reaches higher however, it seems to me the left becomes a little more clear, again just by a tad only really listening for it.
 
So I was wondering is this the case with anyone else's? They're brand new and from an authorized seller so I'm not worried about them being phonies, plus they sound too good other than the minor differences.
 
I also read some people saying it could vary on the sealing and other aspects of the construction of the headphone. However, I'm no expert and haven't ever taken any headphone apart before, and wouldn't want to damage the padding or any of the equipment inside.
 
I should also mention I live in Canada, but got them from the U.S. as they were almost double as much here, so I'm not sure how the warranty will work, but I will call AT Canada tomorrow when I get a chance and find out.
 
Again, it's not a huge thing, but it's noticeable enough that I picked up on it, and it's just the.. 'thump' so to speak which is there. I still hear everything else equally in both.
 
Any insight would be appreciated, and thanks in advance!

Ya im not suprised that a low-fi headphones drivers wouldn't be matched up so well, it is completely normal, you just happend to get two drivers that had probably 2-3DB difference is bass response.  Happens with all headphones but higher end companies match the drivers so that they are much closer to equal.

Thanks for the quick reply!
 
So if it's a normal thing it's not something you need to pursue with the company, in this case audio technica? As in a replacement isn't needed?
 
And out of curiousity, just wondering at what price range the 'high end' stuff starts that has the matched drivers as you were talking about?
 
Either way it's good to know it's a normal thing, and I just didn't receive a defective pair.
 
Also another curiousity thing, is that 2-3 dB difference you mentioned, is that what the -3dB you see on so many speakers/headphones mean? Or is that something else entirely.
 
Thanks again!

Quote:

popnfresh98 said:

Thanks for the quick reply!
 
So if it's a normal thing it's not something you need to pursue with the company, in this case audio technica? As in a replacement isn't needed?
 
And out of curiousity, just wondering at what price range the 'high end' stuff starts that has the matched drivers as you were talking about?
 
Either way it's good to know it's a normal thing, and I just didn't receive a defective pair.
 
Also another curiousity thing, is that 2-3 dB difference you mentioned, is that what the -3dB you see on so many speakers/headphones mean? Or is that something else entirely.
 
Thanks again!

Click to expand...

Well, a small amount of imbalance is normal, maybe 1-2 DB but it seems you randomly got two drivers, one of which decided it wanted to be bass heavy compared to optimal, the other bass light.  Normally one of the drivers might be bass light but the other is close to optimal, so the difference is much smaller.  If it bothers you at all, go ahead and return it, as it is a slight hardware defect.
Well most drivers are checked to not be too far from optimal, the more they cost the more likely they are to have stricter procedure as to what drivers to trash and which to pass.  It shouldn't be a problem for anything around $300 as the procedure would be strict enough that even you get worse case scenario(two opposite drivers, what you got) the difference wouldn't be audible.  HD650 drivers are matched to +/-1DB as well as ER4(IEM).  All Grados seem to be matched to 0.1DB http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grado_Labs .
So it really depends.
And the 3DB thing is something else, usually it comes looking like this:
Frequency response: 20-20k (+/-3DB) 
All that means is that the response from 20-20k is within 3DB of nominal.  So if it says that it has a sensitivity of 86DB/mv then if i gave the headphone one milivolt(mv) at 20Hz(bottom of human hearing) it would be anywhere from 83-89DB depending on the headphones frequency curve.  At any frequency i should be able to put a mv and get 83-89 DB.
Sorry that this is a bunch of technical jargon and mumbo jumbo, if you want to clear something up or would like to know anymore than just put it out there and i should respond within a reasonable amount of time.